The operator of this website is the highly motivated community-minded Martin Mitchell from Australia
(himself an instititionalised and abused minor in church institutions in the former West Germany)
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(
01.09.2004 )
[
Institutional child abuse in the UK ]
Forgotten
Children - The Secret Abuse Scandal in Children's Homes
ISBN:
1901250474 - Vision Paperbacks, October 2000
Pages:
240 / 276
book review extracted from
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/books/children.shtml
"There
isn’t a photo of me before I was 14. It’s as if I didn’t
exist. Children in children’s homes are suffering from trauma,
from shock… They are used to the unexpected and sexual abuse
is unexpected." ‘John’.
In the 1960s and
1970s, children’s departments were abolished and social workers
all became generalists who had clients across the spectrum of need.
As a result, thousands more children were taken into care by local
authorities and many of them were put into children’s homes.
Disaster ensued, with a high proportion of them being abused and
mistreated by those charged with looking after them. The legacy of
this disaster is still being felt; major police investigations have
been launched across the country and many are ongoing.
Why did
it happen? Despite several official investigations, none have
attempted to explain the underlying causes of institutional abuse and
offered a coherent explanation of what happened. Forgotten Children
is the ground-breaking first book to aim to do so.
Forgotten
Children charts the history of children’s homes [in the UK],
how they were neglected over the years and [run], with untrained and
sometimes unsuitable staff, why they became preying grounds for
paedophiles. Many institutions thought it in the best interests of
the children to keep their parents at bay, forbidding letter writing
and visits. So there was no one to turn to. It also shows how changes
in [the UK] social services provision in the 1970s helped to create
the disaster.
It looks, too, at the widespread abuse which
took place in homes run by religious orders and gives a previously
unheard voice to many of the victims. The book then also follows the
children’s claims for compensation, the issues over false
claims of abuse and suggests ways to prevent a re-occurrence of the
scandal.
Author Christian Wolmar analyses the roles of the
institutions which ‘allowed’ this scandal to sweep the
country: local authorities and charities that let abuse go unchecked
in their homes; central government, which failed to heed the warning
signs; the police who initially ignored all complaints; the social
workers who did not listen to the children.
The legacy of
these scandals reaches beyond their immediate victims, many of whom
are too traumatised to lead functional lives or have even committed
suicide; prisons are full of the former residents of children’s
homes whose crimes have, in turn, created a raft of new
victims.
Forgotten Children includes interviews with victims,
care workers, lawyers and police, presenting a gripping critique of
children’s care in the 1970s and 1980s and shedding light on
the underlying causes of institutional abuse.
Christian
Wolmar's book is sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which
publishes research into social issues. After writing Forgotten
Children, Christian submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Select
Committee on the Adoption and Children Bill [UK].
What
they said about Forgotten Children...
'Forgotten Children is
the standard work on the child-abuse scandals of the Nineties' .
The
Observer
'[Forgotten Children] . This remarkable book is a
tribute to the honesty of the author.' .
The Catholic
Herald
'[Forgotten Children] . A fascinating study of
institutional child abuse.' .
Julie Bindel . The
Guardian
'[Forgotten Children] . If you are in any way
affected by child sexual abuse, this book is a must read. Absolute
essential reading. The truth as it is and was.' .
Shy Keenan .
Phoenix Survivors
'[Forgotten Children] . Essential
background reading' .
Peter
Garsden . Family Law Journal
'As the journalist Christian
Wolmar makes clear ... the magnitude of this scandal has never really
been confronted, not by the courts, the press, nor the public. And
despite all the inquiries and prosecutions that have occurred in the
past few years, it would be pretty implausible to suggest that kids
in care homes are just fine now, no abuse still goes on, children are
still disbelieved, support is still patchy and prosecutions [of
alleged abusers] too few and far between.'
The
Independent
'The horror and sheer cruelty of institutional
child abuse are well described, and rightly connected to our
attitudes towards children in general. The history of children’s
homes, from the workhouse to the present day, and the influences of
politics, religion, legislation and the Poor Laws are particularly
interesting, showing up the coercive nature of child care and the
very uncomfortable parallels between past and present. Wolmar argues
passionately for the humane treatment of children, cataloguing both
the personal and societal consequences of neglect and cruelty... Any
work that furthers knowledge of child abuse is welcome... Wolmar
admits his is ‘an outsider’s view’. Outsiders,
however, often have the clearer vision.'
Community Care
'The
book [Forgotten Children] is a welcome investigation into the abuse
of children in residential care. It brings together previously
scattered information about police investigations around Britain into
allegations of sexual and other abuse of children in residential
care... It is by a well informed journalist, well written, and made
interesting and readable.'
Ebay customer review
'Personally,
I found the accounts of serial offenders who got away with their evil
acts year after year the most distressing aspect of this book
[Forgotten Children]. Society put these children out of their sight
with no intention to check that they were alright. Anyone could get a
job in a children's home; nobody thought it worthwhile to check their
credentials; and nobody heard the children's cries for help.'
Frank
Golding . CLAN member . Australia
© Copyright 2004
Christian Wolmar (or his publisher, as the case may be)
Book
review extracted from
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/books/children.shtml
[
Date of first publication on this Website: 1
September 2004 ]
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